Bread from Birds

When you hear of the Raven, what do you think of?

It is officially preseason football time, so maybe you think of the Baltimore Ravens football team. Or one of their famous players wearing the black and purple Jerseys. Maybe you think of why that football team is named the Ravens, after the poet Edgar Allen Poe who lived in Baltimore, and wrote a poem about a guilty murderer being reminded of his crime by a Raven.

The Word for Raven has ties to the Hebrew word for the west, the darkness. The east is where the sun Rises, where there is goodness and life. The west is where the sun sets and where there is darkness and evil. The Ravens can be thought of as a mascot for darkness and evil. The Raven is not just a scavenger though, it is actually an omnivore who will eat grain. They are a smart animal. They are often found around wolfs hunting in the wild. They will find injured animals in the forest like an elk or a deer, and they will begin calling out until the wolfs come and make the kill, then they will eat. They are said to be able to count. There is an anecdote of a farmer that had some crows that kept eating his crop. So he had a small hunting hut on his property and he went out to hunt the crows but when he got close, the bird flew away. And it would wait until the hunter left before it came back. The farmer then recruited another hunter. But the crow wasn’t fooled when one left. It waited until the second one left. He got a third hunter. The crow counted to three. He got a fourth. The crow counted to four. But the fifth, the crow only was able to count to four and the fifth hunter got the bird.

Being in church and after our reading for today maybe all that is in your mind is the picture of these birds coming to feed Elijah as he is sitting there by this brook in the middle of no where for three and a half years. Maybe you remembered that the first bird that Noah sent out from the ark was the Raven in Genesis 8:7

Genesis 8:7 NIV

and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

Now in that first mention of Ravens that we have in the book of Genesis we do learn something about the Ravens. There are many birds that are mentioned in the Bible, but we don’t hear a lot about pigeons or blue jays, we hear a little about sparrows, and eagles, and doves, there are references to the clean and unclean birds that the Israelites were allowed to eat, but the Raven is mentioned more often. There is no real distinction between a crow and a raven, they are just different names given in different places.

There is a reason that Edgar Allen Poe used a raven to be the Bird that is around the man who killed someone, it is because they are scavengers and when you see ravens circling over head, you know that something has died. This is why it was a good bird for Noah to send out from the ark, because if there was land, chances were that there would be some animal that had died in the flood, and that hungry raven would eat it. But the Raven, couldn’t find any where to land, he couldn't find anything to eat, so he went back to the ark. This practice was used by by vikings when traveling at sea, they would keep a raven on board, and then release it. Then they would follow the Raven in the direction that it was going to find land.

This is an animal that is symbolic of death, who is the bringer of life to Elijah. Ravens are black as night, such a dark black color that solomon compares the black hair of his beloved in Song of songs to the that of the raven Song of Songs 5:11

Song of Solomon 5:11 NIV

His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

This is the account where we are introduced to Elijah in the Bible. There is no mention of him before this. There is no backstory. There is no mention of Elijahs, father or mother and what they did. There is no talk of Elijahs calling by the Lord to be a prophet. We are introduced to the villain before the hero. We are introduced first to Ahab in

1 Kings 16:30–33 NIV

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.

Ahab is literally the worst. And because he is the worst, God responds by sending somone. In that worst moment that is when God sends his prophet Elijah to help. And he sends Elijah and Elijah stands up to Ahab and says in 1 Kings 17:1

1 Kings 17:1 NIV

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

It doesn't really even say that Elijah was sent to do this. We know that it is from the Lord, but we just have so little information on Elijah, its fascinating. But he says go to the Kerith Ravine. So that is where is stay. For three years he stays there. February 6th, 2020. That was three and a half years ago. Think of every meal you have eaten every experience you have had since February 6th 2020, and imagine the entire time, you were living near the Kerith river. You were eating food that ravens brought to you. THey must have been stealing bread from someone, Or God miraculously is providing for them, and they are brining food to you. But this is Elijahs entire ministry. When we talk about great prophets of the Old Testament, Moses, David, and then Elijah is usually brought up. Elijah and Moses are on the Mount of Transfiguration, This is a incredibly important figure in the history of God’s people. But really think about this, three and a half years of his life, he lives alone by a river, is fed by birds, endures a drought where there is no rain, he knows that because of this drought there are many people suffering all throughout Israel. The King Ahab, and his wife Jezebel, and the prophets of their false Gods, they would have survived, they were evil and powerful enough to take from those who had nothing so they could eat and survive, but many of the common people, like the widow at zarapheth, were suffering during this time. And Elijahs only job is to stay away from all of the people and pray. Because it is at his word that the rains are going to fall. That is going to happen when he has a showdown with the prophets of baal on mt. Carmel in a little while. But for right now, if he says the word, there is going to be rain, if he doesn’t say anything there won’t be rain, and so he wouldn’t be influenced to send rain before it was God’s plan, he is sent by the Lord to hide where no one can find him for three and a half years, and pray. And do you know what Elijah prayed for?

James 5:17 NIV

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

He prayed it wouldn’t rain. He prayed for hardship. He prayed for famine and suffering. He went through it too. He didn’t go live in a palace while the people learned their lesson. He lived in isolation for three and a half years so that the people would be convinced that their hope should not be in Ahab, this wicked king, or his gods, but only in the one true God, and his servants. The ones who speak the word of God faithfully.

Think of how powerful Ahab was, he was the king. He could say build this temple. And it got built. He could say put those people to death, and no one would question him. He could do seemingly, whatever he wanted to do and no one could stop him, but he couldn’t make it rain one day in 1,260 days of trying. Not once. He was powerless. Ahab got to sit on a throne and tell people what to do, and he got to eat the finest foods, and drink the finest wine, and he felt powerful. Elijah laid by a brook hiding in the wilderness, eating food brought to him by a scavenging bird, just seeking by his existence, but he had the power to send rain or take it away because God was with him.

I guess its all how you look at it. Is the Raven the bird that brings life, or the bird that signals death. Depends on your circumstance. Is Elijah the prophet who brought a famine on the land, or is he the one who saved Israel from its worst king. Depends on your perspective. You could blame Elijah for this famine, but it would have never happened if Ahab would have served the Lord. It would have stopped if Ahab would have gotten rid of his false gods, and admitted that there is only one God. It would have all been over if Ahab would have confessed that he is weak and deserving of nothing, and just begged God to bless him, and would have been thankful no matter what God gave him, weather that be a palace and power, or wilderness and scraps.

Elijah was content to listen to God and do his will. Because he knew what was right. He knew that the Lord was God. The Lord reminded him that he was caring for him each and every day though his suffering. Elijah got a miraculous sign twice a day that God loved him and cared for him, that there was only one true God and he could but his faith and trust in him. But he didn’t get that sign by remaining silent while others went on sinning. He didn’t get that sign by working 9-5 and being a part of the daily grind and just wishing that God would do more for him. He received that sign by doing what was right based on his careful instruction from the word of God. He got that sign by serving the Lord with all of his heart and all of his soul and all his mind, and all his strength. We are quick to complain that God is not doing more in our lives. That God is not doing more in the world. That God should be doing this or that, but then we are so slow to change our lives and follow him when it means that we risk some of our own comfort, status. Or we just remain ignorant to what he says, like the people of Israel who followed blindly their awful king.

It’s like the raven that we think that we are smart because we can count to four and skip out on the traps that the devil has for us, but we can’t count to five, and we go in and get trapped when the devil ups his game. And there will be a six, and there will be a seven, unless we continue to learn, pray and do.

We have a God who sustains us, cares for us and give us all that we need.

As children of God who have been given faith in Jesus we do have a choice. Do what is right and difficult, or just continue to suffer at the hands of others. I don’t think any of us are going to go off into the wilderness and be fed by ravens. I don’t believe that the Lord has called any of us to stand up to a political power of this world and declare a famine. James 5:18-20

James 5:19–20 (NIV)

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

My hope is that we focus locally. On our congregation, on our friends and neighbors, and do what needs to be done for them. Pray that the Lord turns them back or to him. And then pray that the Lord showers them with blessings and happiness besides his stream. That means though, we might have to go through discomfort. We might feel isolated. We might not receive blessings from this world. But the power of this word is so weak compared to the power that our God has for us. The power to send rain. The power to forgive sins. The power to remove guilt. The power to send ravens to feed you if needed. Their power only works, if it works. GOd’s power cannot be stopped. And God’s power is with you and accessed through your prayer.